Dell Tempts with the XPS 435

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2009/02/the_dell_xps_435_is_a_highend_desktop_pc.html' target='_blank'>http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archive...desktop_pc.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"The XPS 435 can be found on Dell's website, a quick glance at the specs shows that it is indeed a top of the line PC: Core i7 Extreme, powerful graphics, optional Blu-Ray drive, up to 24GB of RAM and up to 4.5TB of hard drive space makes it a powerhouse."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1235607545.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>I can accept the choice of the Core i7 Extreme; it's just about the fastest thing out there short of using liquid nitrogen.&nbsp; I can see someone using 4.5TB of hard drive space as my own storage farm is close to the same.&nbsp; A slick Radeon HD4870 GPU is also a good choice and it'll even handle Crysis, mostly.&nbsp; But I'm trying to wrap my head around why someone, short of server uses or editing really, really high resolution photos, would need 24GB of RAM.&nbsp; But this is supposed to be Dell's premium, top of the line, showcase PC, so why not?&nbsp; It looks slick, and has some thoughtful features like a set of three USB ports, media card reader and inset tray on top of the case for easy access.&nbsp; The only thing they haven't shown is the princely sum you'll need to pay for a computer that can probably run more than 6 copies of World of Warcraft at the same time.</p>

[Stinger]

No-one needs 24GB of RAM but I guess that it was an easy option for Dell to offer.

A few websites are reporting that the base graphics card is a 3650 and the best card Dell are offering as an upgrade is a 4870. The 4870 is a good graphics card (I own one :)) but it's not top of the range. I assume that the PSU or case design stop Dell from including real high end cards like the 4870 x2.

[Hooch Tan]

An update from Engadget posts the base model at $1099. source (http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/26/dell-studio-xps-435-up-for-sale-action-starts-at-1099/)

That's actually quite reasonable from what I can tell as even the base model isn't made up of low end parts, though it is a far cry from the fully loaded model. Personally, I'm waiting for the next 1 or 2 CPU price drops, which should put me in September before I consider replacing my old bessy. I haven't found much personal use for the extra horsepower.

[Jason Dunn]

...I'm trying to wrap my head around why someone, short of server uses or editing really, really high resolution photos, would need 24GB of RAM.

Yeah, 24 GB of RAM on a machine that isn't being used as server, or isn't running several virtual machines simultaneously, is a waste. If Windows Vista or Windows 7 could do something amazing (like put the system swamp file in RAM) with gobs of excess RAM, I'd be rocking 8 GB of RAM in every machine that could handle it. But it can't, so pretty much everything above 3 GB is a waste (again, if you're not rocking the VM's).

[Jason Dunn]

I assume that the PSU or case design stop Dell from including real high end cards like the 4870 x2.

That's pretty surprising, because you're right, that's a good high-end gaming card right now.